If you are among the 13 million Americans with coronary heart disease (CHD), you may want to swig a glass of pomegranate juice every day, suggests a recent study conducted by the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. In the study of 45 people with CHD, drinking pomegranate juice daily for three months increased blood flow to the heart by about 17 percent (American Journal of Cardiology, 2005, vol. 96, no. 6). Those in the placebo group, who received daily helpings of a liquid similar in color, taste, and calories, showed an 18 percent decrease in blood flow to the heart. Although this study was relatively small, senior author and heart-health expert Dean Ornish, MD, says the findings offer promise because of the significant increase in blood flow in such a short time. More research is under way to see if pomegranate juice is a viable preventive measure for those who have not yet developed CHD.
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